Forked, in spirit, from the Interchain Foundation of 2017
Keep the mission.
Fork the foundation.
In 2017 thousands of people funded a foundation to build an internet of sovereign blockchains: open to anyone, owned by no one. The chains got built. interchain.foundation starts that foundation again from its first idea, with the same mission and a short list of changes, all in the open.
interchain.foundation is an independent project. It is not the Interchain Foundation (Interchain Stiftung) of Zug, Switzerland, and is not affiliated with it, endorsed by it or speaking for it.
- 2014Tendermint: proof-of-stake consensus, final in seconds
- 2016The Cosmos whitepaper: an internet of blockchains
- 2017The fundraiser: the public funds the interchain
- 2019The Cosmos Hub goes live
- 2021IBC connects sovereign chains
- upstreamthe Interchain Foundation, Zug
- 2026interchain.foundation, forked in spirit
Why fork
Forking is how open source disagrees.
Nobody asks permission to fork. You keep what was good, change what wasn't, and let people choose. Cosmos was built on that idea: every chain sovereign, free to set its own rules, free to leave. The Cosmos Hub itself was forked in 2024, as AtomOne.
The foundation of 2017 existed for one thing: the interchain, an open network of sovereign chains that anyone can join. That mission is still worth a whole foundation. We think it deserves one that puts it first, spends in the open and answers to the people who build and use the network.
So here is a fork. Same mission, a new foundation, and the changes written down where you can read them like a diff.
The diff
What we kept, and what we changed.
- Fund open, decentralized software: an internet of blockchains.
- Every chain sovereign. Chains connect through open protocols like IBC.
- Free software, built in public, for anyone to use and fork.
- -A foundation that answers to its own council.
- +A foundation that answers to the people who build and use the network.
- -Spending reported when and how the foundation decides.
- +Money in the open: what comes in, what goes out, and why.
- +Security before growth: audits before launches, fewer keys to lose.
- +Forkable too. If we lose the plot, fork us.
The kept lines are the 2017 mission in our own words; the changed lines are our view of what a foundation for it should be.
Principles
Six lines we hold to.
Sovereign chains
Every chain sets its own rules and can leave. We fund the connections between chains, never a hold over them.
Open protocols
What we fund is free software, public from the first commit, forkable by anyone, owned by no one.
The public first
The network is for the people who build and use it. Companies are welcome to build on it; they are not the mission.
Money in the open
What comes in, what goes out and why, published where anyone can check it.
Security before growth
Fewer moving parts, fewer keys, audits before launches. Users' funds are not a test network.
Forkable, too
The words on this page and the code we write are free to copy. If we lose the plot, fork us.
Join the fork
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Leave an email and, if you like, who you are and what you would build or fix first. We read every message, and we'll write when there's something real to show.
We use this only to write to you about interchain.foundation. No selling, no sharing, and you can leave with one reply.
Done
You're in.
Thank you. We'll write when there's something real to show.
Plainly
Who we are, and who we are not.
Who we are. interchain.foundation is an independent project started in November 2026 by Jae Kwon, who founded Tendermint and co-wrote the Cosmos whitepaper.
Who we are not. We are not the Interchain Foundation (Interchain Stiftung), the Swiss foundation in Zug that ran the 2017 Cosmos fundraiser, and we are not affiliated with, endorsed by or acting for it or any company it runs. "A fork, in spirit" means we start again from the ideas. We hold none of that foundation's money, rights or duties, and we don't speak for it.
Nothing for sale. There is no token and no sale. Nothing here is an offer, a promise of returns, or financial or legal advice.